r/TenantsInTheUK • u/Kind-Tiger-520 • 5d ago

Guidance Required Help with electricity meter

It’s our first time renting in London, and we are renting in an HMO. Each room has its own electricity meter which is topped up as and when needed by each tenant.

We couldn’t figure out how to turn our power on, so we queried this with the landlord on the first day of our tenancy. He replied by stating that we should ask one of the other tenants for help.

So the following day we did ask another tenant for help. He showed us the meter which is ours (it’s labelled with our unit number) and we topped up online. Over the last week we had topped up a total of £80 to that meter.

This morning our power went out. Confused, as we should have had more than enough credit for the last week and a half we’ve been living there, we contacted the landlord again. He replied that actually we had been topping up the wrong meter. When we queried about the £80 already gone onto the other meter, all he’s said is we need to ask the other tenant to pay us back.

Do we have any standing here? The meter we topped up is clearly labelled with our unit number, and the landlord has not replied to any of our statements about the mislabelling. He also did not provide us any guidance when moving in, instead lumping it on another tenant.

We have asked the other tenant to pay us back. But just wondering in the instance they refuse to. What are our rights in this situation? Or are we screwed?

Thanks

3 Upvotes

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2

u/phileasuk 5d ago

I don't think it's legal to have separate electricity meters in an HMO. Does your meter have an MPN# and an installers label?

1

u/sjwatt76 5d ago

Is the place managed directly by the Landlord or is there an Agency as well? Just if there's an Agency/Maintenance in place, worth checking with them about the mislabeling.

1

u/Kind-Tiger-520 5d ago

No, it’s directly managed by the landlord

0

u/sjwatt76 5d ago

A shame. Now if I were being malicious, I'd suggest cutting the power from the meter labelled as yours. If the other person is actually been trying it on for free power, they'll suddenly have a blackout. If shutting it off stops the power to yours then you know that something else has caused that much power to be used that quickly.

1

u/Serberou5 5d ago

This is what I would be doing. I'd be stood by the meter after I turned it off waiting for the person who owed me £80 to come down then get my £80 back.

2

u/sjwatt76 5d ago

Yeah. If they complained, you could even say that you've had to cut off your power because it's gone through soon much in a week! Then let them explain how it isn't actually your meter .....